a small bundle of thoughts on this transition

I moved to Pasadena three weeks ago...Three weeks ago I stepped onto an airplane, flew across the country to a place I knew no one, and began my life on the West coast. It's still crazy to me. At times I feel like it's just a vacation and I'll be flying back to the south east any day now, yet there are days when this is starting to feel like home. (note: now that classes have started, those times when it feels like I'm on vacation haven't really come around much...how odd.) 

Still very deep in the transitioning process, I do want to think through a few of my first thoughts and impressions of this new place. Thus, my incomplete, rambling-style, mid-processing, bullet point list...

• My life on the West coast seems to turn at a more relaxing pace.  We were told during one of the Welcome Week events that life is just slower here. One student explained, "If someone tells you to be somewhere at 10, they really mean 10:30." I've found this to be partially true. Most things seem to actually start on time, but there is no doubt that I feel a much more relaxed and at-ease feeling in the air. This is partially due to my feet and bike being my two main sources of transportation here. I have found that I don't rush from place to place, I don't make unnecessary trips, and life has just simplified. I am so thankful for the ways I have felt myself slow down the past few weeks.  
• Surprise! Sara Hunt is actually excited to be back in the academic world.  I know, those of you closest to me are laughing...it's ok :) I've surprised myself. (Don't get too crazy, my body still has a limit on time I can physically sit in the library.) My year off after grad school was intentional and very much needed. School and academics have never been an all consuming part of my life, and there were times along the way that I hated school. But I'm back (for three more years) and I really am loving it. I found myself happy to be back in the classroom, and excited for the conversations and things to be taken in! This quarter I am taking Greek, New Testament 2 (Romans-Revelation), and Globalization, the Poor, and Christian Mission. So far...lots and lots of reading and writing, but it is going to be good! 
• There is such rich diversity around me. Now I am not talking about the kind of diversity that some  flaunt in brochures or on their websites to try to convince you of diversity. Truth: this place is diverse. Pasadena and LA are full of people from all over the world and of different walks of life, but more specifically I never belonged to a community as diverse as Fuller. The ethnic and theological diversity were reasons I chose to come to Fuller, and that hasn't disappointed. If anything, it is even more so than I expected. Being around people so vastly different than myself can be uncomfortable at times and it has been. But I know that this is stretching me and I am getting an experience I'm not sure I could get anywhere else. 
• I feel very (very) far away from you people back home.  I am far away and there are times when that is so extremely evident. Our community here had a retreat this weekend (fabulous time!) and many of us who have just moved here were discussing this experience of leaving the communities and people back home whom we love deeply. One of my new friends Faith expressed this process in a beautiful way and one that was helpful. She described the experience  as both physically and emotionally uprooting ourselves. I feel uprooted. Friends, memories, places, the feeling of being known, comfort, all things "home" feel to me as if they're those little loose bits of dirt that fly all over the place as roots are tug up from the ground. I know very confidently that my relationships back home are still there-but it is different. Faith continued to express how she felt there was some sort of a grieving process that had to happen in these transitions. A grieving of what once was. I don't want to lose the things I have been uprooted from, so I have this horrible gut reaction to the word "grieve" associated with those things. However, I am here. I need (and want) to be fully present, invested, and alive in this place. I want to put down new, deep roots here, and to fully do that I have to loosen my grips of the ground that was (and will always be) home. 
• I could not be happier that this is where I have landed for a season. Not much elaboration on this one folks. I love it here! Community takes time to develop, but I am hopeful, and it is happening! The people here are authentic, caring and a ton of fun! I am thankful for this place, and looking forward to the next three years with great anticipation!